Undercurrents: Hats off to Floriopolis

Wednesday

Jan 11, 2017 at 1:14 PMJan 11, 2017 at 3:12 PM

TONY SIMMONS News Herald Writer @PCNHTonyS

PANAMA CITY — On Tuesday of this week, I took a seat in an armchair facing a mirror. The mirror was propped against the front-facing wall of the counter at Floriopolis — the studio, market and gallery in historic St. Andrews.

The chair and mirror had just been set in place, and I was invited to be the first to take an official #upsidedown #selfie as part of the interactive element of Floriopolis' latest exhibit and installation, "Upside Down."

I've been trying to practice saying yes, so I did — hooking my knees over the head of the chair and promptly losing my hat to the inexorable forces of gravity in the process.

So once again, and non-metaphorically this time, my hat's off to the folks at Floriopolis, which will celebrate its third anniversary on Saturday.

"I'm really proud of us for staying true to our mission as we enter year four," said Heather Parker, the founder of the center. "And, I'm proud and shocked at how much of an impact we've had on St. Andrews in the short time we've been around. I figured our first few years would be strictly focused on our own four walls — fine-tuning our structure and operations, learning how to be 'Floriopolis.' We kind of invented our own brand of community arts center, so it made sense that we'd have to discover ourselves along the way. I had no idea that what we're doing would already be affecting St. Andrews."

I saw it recently when I attended a planning meeting for the St. Andrews merchants, who gathered around the "Art on the Spot" roundtable inside Floriopolis to make plans for 2017.

"We can feel it, and people come in to tell us," Heather said. "Some isn't really tangible stuff, but shared energy that we can't always take credit for, but we know we're part of it, giving and taking. That definitely helps to get past those 'oh my gosh, we'll never be able to do this' moments that keep me up at night."

Last year at this time, the gallery filled to capacity with friends, volunteers and local artists of every sort to toast the little arts center. This week, as I stopped in to see the new exhibit and chat with volunteers, anticipation for the upcoming year was palpable. In the back studio space, a winter resident stood painting as art was added to the exhibit space and browsers examined items in the market area.

"This year feels really good," Heather said as she tried to get a sense of where 2017 would take the venue. "There will be enough."

She noted that all of the volunteering and community support means that she can actually be out of town while those who have taken ownership at Floriopolis celebrate its successes this weekend.

"What's really fitting is that I'm not even going to be in town for the anniversary party," she said. "For me personally, that means so many things. I've been so focused on Floriopolis for three-plus years that I've neglected other parts of my life — fulfilling, important, necessary parts like health and family and sleep. Thankfully, we have some volunteers and artists that practice the art of food and enjoy making sure others eat well, or I'd have surely starved already."

It's a fitting sentiment. On the sidewalk outside the gallery, I noticed a chalkboard sign that declared on one side, "Don't feed the artists." On the other side, it suggested, "Buy their art and they can feed themselves."